Do you enjoy wearing Levi's blue jeans? Blue jeans have become
popular all over the world, but do you know how they got started?
Read on to find out...
Levi Strauss was born in Germany in the mid 1800's and emigrated to the
United States as a young man. He lived in New York City and learned the
dry-goods business for several years. In 1853 he took his knowledge and
his dreams to San Francisco (California., USA.) His dream to succeed
came true over the next 20 years as he became a very successful
businessman.
Many of Levi Strauss' customers were cowboys and miners. They needed
clothing that was strong and durable. Strauss found a special fabric from
France that was comfortable and lasted a long time. It was called "serge
de Nimes," which was later shortened to the word denim.
Another man named Jacob Davis bought large amounts of the denim
fabric from Levi Strauss. He was a tailor who made pants for hardworking
men. One of his customers was continually tearing the pockets
off his pants. So Jacob Davis decided to put rivets on certain parts of the
pants to make them stronger. The customer loved the new pants so much
that he told all his friends, and soon Jacob Davis was busy making lots of
pants with rivets.
Jacob Davis soon realized that using rivets was a great business idea, and
he didn't want anybody to steal that idea. He decided that he would need
to get a patent. But being a poor tailor, he didn't have enough money to
pay for the patent. After thinking it over, he went to the businessman Levi
Strauss and told him his idea. He said, "If you agree to pay for the
patent, we will share the profits from the riveted pants." Levi Strauss did
agree, and the new riveted pant business was called Levi Strauss and
Company. Today Levi's jeans are more popular than ever, and Levi's
name continues to live on.